


the sun grounds you

by coffeeless



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, To the Forest of Firefly Lights AU!, Touch-Starved, but lowkey, for anyone whos watched the movie: my version has a completely different ending so no worries!!, human! oikawa, spirit! iwa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 18:17:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10645377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeless/pseuds/coffeeless
Summary: “Yes, I’m gonna roll around youLike a cat rolls around the chrysanthemums,I’m gonna kiss you like the sun grounds you.”tooru is touch-starved. over the many summers he's spent with iwa, he's only been told one thing: don't touch iwa's skin.





	the sun grounds you

**Author's Note:**

> for the [iwaoi exchange,](http://iwaoiexchange.tumblr.com) my gift to [nana!!!!!!!!!](http://vicecxptainiwaizumi.tumblr.com)
> 
> im so sorry this is a bit late I RLY HOPE YOU ENJOY i cri

 

> “Yes, I’m gonna roll around you  
>  Like a cat rolls around the chrysanthemums,  
>  I’m gonna kiss you like the sun grounds you.”

“You’re going already, Tooru? Are you sure you can’t stay for a while longer?” His mother fusses over him at the door.

“I’m sorry mom, I really have to study for this.” He sits down at the steps in the entryway to tie his shoes. His two week long stay with his mother was cut short by his university suddenly adding another exam they originally didn’t plan to hold.

“You have your toiletries, right? And have enough money for the train and bus fares? You remembered all your clothes?” She stands next to him anxiously, wringing her hands together.

Tooru looks up with an exasperated smile. “Yes, I double checked that I have everything before I packed them away.” He stands up and puts his hand on his suitcase for emphasis. “Oh but- are you sure I can keep your scarf? Iwa-chan doesn’t really need it anymore-”

His mother cuts him off with an airy laugh, “Nothing to worry about! You know how many other scarves I have, so what if I lose one?” She then frowns playfully.

“Remember to always wear your sunhat when outside, okay? I don’t want you dealing with sunburns!” She scolds with a pointed look that he glances away from under the pretense of picking up his sunhat from the floor and putting it on.

He opens the front door, dragging the suitcase with him. “I’ve practically lived there for years before I even moved in, mom. I think I got it all down by muscle memory.”

She offers him a fond smile and folds her hands together. “I know but I can’t help but worry about you. You always get so spacey at that house.”

Tooru grins and walks out the door, yelling his goodbye as he makes his way down to the bus stop that’ll take him to the train station. Putting aside the suitcase and readjusting his sunhat, he waits.

 

* * *

 

 

They first met when they were both seven, a hot summer day that made every muscle you move burn.

Tooru had gotten lost in the forest of the mountain god, the one his uncle lived next to. He wandered in with an innocent intention; finding flowers for his mother would make her happy. It hadn't turned out that way, not a flower in sight as he loses direction after multiple twists and turns.

He walked for hours, searching for an exit or someone to help him out. He found no one, and became so tired his legs felt like jello and his arm like sticks. Just when he felt like crying from fear of never getting back to his mother, a boy appeared.

“Are you lost?” A voice a couple yards away asks, hesitant. Tooru looks up from where he sat, hope surging through him as he smiles. Hiding behind a tree was a kid that, judging by height, looked to be his age. A fox mask hides his face.

Tooru stands up immediately and runs over to the kid, arms outstretched to hug his savior. Only- he falls to the floor when his arms touch nothing; the kid dodged him!

Tooru looks up with a frown, the boy- his spiky hair peeked out from the top of his mask- crossed his arms protectively. “Sorry,” He mumbles, looking down at Tooru. “I don’t like to be touched.

Tooru only hums, the frown disappearing as he stands up. “That’s okay! As long as you help me get out of here, I’ll forget it even happened!” He gives the boy a triumphant smile.

The mask hides the boys reaction, but a small huff is clearly audible. “Oh, you really are a human.” He sounds disappointed.

“Human?” Tooru shoves his hand in his pocket, leaning off of his right leg to relieve the pain a bit. “You’re human too.”

He could practically hear the frown in the boy’s voice when he says, “No, I’m not. I’m a spirit that lives here.”

Tooru pouts, glaring skeptically at him. “You don’t look like a spirit. Aren’t you supposed to be really big and ugly looking? Trick me and eat me?”

The boy- spirit or whatever- uncrosses his arms and clenches his hands into fists. “No! Why would I do that? You probably wouldn’t even taste good!”

Tooru hums, squinting at him. “Well alright, I guess. Can you at least get me out of here?”

“Yeah. It's dangerous for you to be in here by yourself, anyway.” The masks nods and turns around, leading to the direction opposite of where Tooru was originally trying to find home. He follows silently, hands behind his back as he watches the other boy.

He looks completely human, except for the weird mask; normal arms and legs and everything. Even his clothing looks normal: an ugly Godzilla shirt and torn jeans. He remembers that he didn’t like to be touched, did that have to do with him being a spirit? He decided to find out.

Silently reaching out his hand, he aims to brush the spirits upper arm. Before he could, the boy visibly bristles and jerks out of the way, turning around with clenched fists.

“Stop that,” He mutters, voice gruff. Tooru doesn’t say anything, watching how tense he was. He really didn’t like to be touched, then.

“Sorry,” Is all he offers, putting his hands behind his back again. He watches him, probably glaring behind the mask, before turning around. For the rest of the walk they stayed silent, Tooru extremely tempted to try and touch him again. He eventually decides against it, he didn’t want his only way out of the forest to leave him.

Minutes later, they arrived to what looked to be an abandoned shrine, moss and grass growing over every cracked stone. The statues, or what were left of them, crumbled to the floor and replaced by large vines. In front of them was a large stone arch, and a dirt path that seemed to lead out of the forest and into an large open field.

Tooru knew this was where the spirit would say he couldn't go further. He didn't want to leave it at that and just go home, he at least had to say something. “Um- thanks. For bringing me out of there. And everything.”

The spirit looks over, posture relaxed again. Instead of saying ‘you’re welcome’ like Tooru expected, he asked, “How'd you know this was where I'd let you go?”

He blinks, surprised. “Because you can't go further than the shrine, right? My uncle talks about the spirits here sometimes: most can't go farther than the shrine or they'll be in danger.”

“Oh.” They climb down the broken steps and stop. “If you follow the dirt path back you can find your way to your house. It'll make sure you get back.”

“It will?” Tooru looks at the path in surprise. It doesn't move in any way that hints it'll make sure he gets home, just the light of the field he’d never seen before.

The boy hums and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Okay. Bye, I guess.” He turns to leave.

Tooru panics, he wants to see the spirit again; wants to come back to the forest. He reaches out to grab his arm, stopping just in time to remember the boy's distress. “Wait! Um.”

The spirit half turns around but doesn't make any effort to help Tooru finish his sentence. “Can I come back? And see you again?”

A large pause makes him nervous. He can't see what he's thinking with that mask, the interesting design of a fox mocks him with a grin.

“Why?” The boy finally asks, completely turning around to face him. At least he grabbed his attention before he teleported off or whatever spirits do.

“To- uh, to thank you! I didn't know if I'd be able to find my way back if you didn't appear.” It was wasn't a complete lie, plus it would let Tooru see him again.

There's another considering pause before he answers, “Okay. Come back tomorrow and I'll wait here, just don't be weird about it.”

Tooru scoffs in surprise. “I won't! How dare you think I would be!”

The boy snorts but doesn't reply. It creeped Tooru out, how little he said with the mocking mask.

“What's your name? I don't want to call you Fox-kun all day tomorrow.” He jokes, but the spirit doesn't laugh. An eerie silence seems to smother Tooru as they stare at each other for a moment, before he backs away quickly, already started to regret he asked.

“Um! Okay! I’ll be back tomorrow with something to say thanks. Bye!” Tooru quickly says, turning around to run down the path before the silence catches in his throat.

Before he could run too far, he hears a gentle, “Iwa.” Tooru stops completely to turn around only to find- the boy was gone. The wind picks up as he smiles and continues to run to his uncle's house where his mother waits.

 

  
That night, Tooru couldn't sleep well, staring blankly at his bedroom ceiling covered in glow-in-the-dark stars he put up at the beginning of summer. His mother and uncle had been searching for him when he came back as the sun set, scolding him for being gone too long. He just laughed and told them he found some cool hiding places, brushing them off with a large smile and suggestion to cut some watermelon when they get back.

He stayed up until two in the morning, according to the clock, thinking of what to bring Iwa when he got back.

Some flowers? No, he must see those everyday, living in the forest and all. An extra key-chain he had? No, Iwa probably didn't even have a phone. Milk bread? Maybe. He probably didn't eat human food, or food in general.

It bothered him that he couldn't think of anything perfect for the spirit, he wanted it to be something that would impress him or help him in some way.

In the end, Tooru decided on bringing the milk bread, too tired to think of anything else. Hopefully Iwa hadn't eaten anything like it before.

 

  
He was met with the blank eyes of the fox mask when he arrived at the shrine arch near lunch time. Iwa was sitting on the large steps, a different outfit than yesterday on. It was just a black tank top and shorts this time, nothing special, but it made Tooru smile that even a spirit had to change clothes too.

“I'm back!” He practically yells, running over to the boy with a wide grin. The bag of milk bread jostling as he ran, sitting on the steps next to the other.

“You actually came back.” Iwa sounded surprised, making Tooru frown.

“Of course I did. I said I would, didn't I?” He looks away for a moment to shuffle through the bag, taking out the two milk bread packages he worried would melt weird in his hands.

“Yeah but…” He doesn't finish his sentence, looking down at Tooru’s lap with the bread. “What are those?”

Tooru smiles triumphantly. “Milk bread! They're my favorite, wanna try?” He hands a package over. “It's a thank you for getting me out of here yesterday.”

Wordlessly, Tooru watches him open the plastic and take a small bite, “It’s good, isn’t it?” He sounds more confident than he feels.

But Iwa just hums in return, taking another bite after the next. Tooru, content with that reaction, bites into his own bread for the evening.

It’s barely been a minute before Iwa stands up, brushes off the crumbs on his shorts and says, “Okay! I have a plan to show you some stuff, so let's go.” Tooru shoves the rest of his milk bread into his mouth and follows him up the shrine steps, more than a little surprised that Iwa was to one to suggest to go back in the forest.

Swallowing the bread, he asks, “Are you sure I can come back in? Didn’t you say it was dangerous for me to be in here?”

Iwa doesn’t turn around to reply. “Yeah but I’m with you, and I won't let you get lost, so it’s okay.” They fall silent as Tooru has no idea how to reply. How does Iwa staying with him make a difference?

They start to walk along the bridge and into the darker part of the forest when he asks, “So where are we going, Iwa-chan?” Iwa-chan splutters and turns around, the wood under his feet protesting at the sudden weight.

“Iwa-chan?” He crosses his arms.

Tooru grins. “Yeah! Don’t you like it? I thought of it last night!”

Iwa glares in response to his smile. “I told you it was okay to call me Iwa, not Iwa-chan,” He turns around to walk as if the conversation never happened.

Running to catch up with him, Tooru enters the forest line to see a rock and dirt path that's too long to see the end. Around him is white noise of leaves rustling and bird song, a constant but calming sound.

Before he can reply, there's a sudden shadow beside him as they walk that makes him look over- but at a second glance, he sees nothing. Did he imagine it?

He turns to ask Iwa if there's any big animals in here, the harmful ones his uncle had told him about other than spirits, but the shadow re-appears behind a tree.

It has eyes. And a mouth. And it speaks. “Iwa. Did you bring a human with you?”

Tooru almost bumps into Iwa when he stops, addressing the shadow blob. “Yeah? Should I not have…?”

The shadow moves to the other side of the tree, peeking at them. “I dunno. Can I eat it?”

You could hear the frown in his voice when Iwa says, “No, Makki! He's my friend.”

“Did he touch you yet? Humans always do. They're so stupid.”

Tooru frowns and looks for a stick. Finding one not far away, he quickly throws it at the shadow blob with a protest, “I'm not stupid!” In his surprise and to Iwa’s annoyance, the shadow goes ‘poof!’ and smoke covers his appearance.

Under the smoke is a pink shaded fox with two tails and a tuft of hair on his head. Iwa steps forward, “Makki I thought the others said not to show yourself to humans!”

The fox- Makki- prances forward anyway with what looks like a grin. “Yeah but you’re the one that brought him, so you trust the human, right?” He still talks as a fox? Tooru thinks skeptically.

“Yeah but-”

“And I trust you so in a way I trust the human!” Makki sits within an arm's reach of Tooru. “Human, what's your name?”

He hesitates to answer, looking at Iwa’s mask for reassurance. He gets a shrug in reply, which is good enough for him. “Tooru, and you’re Makki?”

Makki shows his teeth for a smile. “Isn't this human so smart!” He stands up to sniff him, going around in circles before sitting back in the same spot. “You smell weird.”

“You mean I smell human?” Tooru pouts, crossing his arms.

Iwa chimes in. “Nah, I noticed too.”

“Noticed what?”

“Uh,” Iwa scratches his neck. “Like you don't smell like a normal human.”

Tooru furrows his eyebrows and wills away the urge to smell himself. That'd look weird, right? “My mom always puts vanilla behind my ears before I leave the house. Have you smelled vanilla before?”

They're a pause before Makki asks, “What's vanilla?” Tooru gives a scandalized gasp and struggles for an explanation.

They spend the day like that, the two spirits asking questions and Tooru answering them to the best of his abilities. They eventually leave the path to a wide clearing with an oak tree in the center, playing on and around it with tag and hide-and-seek.

Tooru found out that Makki was the best at hide-and-seek while Iwa-chan was the best at chasing in tag. Iwa, as expected, refrained from touching Tooru’s skin the entire time- instead only poking him through his shirt.

Tooru never asked why he couldn't touch Iwa that day- or for the rest of his vacation- too busy with other questions and the worry that Iwa might not wanna be friends once he figures it out.

That's how he spent the summer at his uncle’s house instead of his stuffy room; playing games with a spirit in the woods, occasionally two if Makki decided to join. It was one of Tooru’s favorite summers- the day he met Iwa-chan.

 

It was near the end of summer that he finally thought about Iwa-chan, really thought about him; his weird quirk about not touching his skin, or wearing his mask all the time, or why he looks more human than Makki or any other spirit he talked about.

There were a lot of close calls with touching Iwa’s skin. One time Tooru fell out of a tree and Iwa’s first instinct was to catch him, another time Tooru miscalculated where to touch him when playing tag. In the end, thankfully, Iwa moved out of the way just in time.

Then there was the day Tooru purposefully tried to touch his arm. That was their biggest fight yet, Iwa not talking to him for three entire days. It drove Tooru mad, not being able to go into the forest without the silence of his best friend.

They eventually made up when Tooru threatened to leave his Uncle’s house, Iwa coming out from behind a tree with a guilty expression. He promised not to intentionally touch him while Iwa-chan promised not to be mad anymore.

Then there came the thought of Iwa’s mask.

They laid down in the field where the oak tree grew, apparently taking nap. Tooru was too restless but Iwa seemed perfectly content on laying there and wasting their time together.

He takes a moment to look at Iwa that day, really look at him, and wonder about what's behind the mask. Would he have a human face? Would he be ugly and have a giant forehead?

He sits up and looks at the plastic in thought. It looked like a fox, in a way, with whiskers and sharp eyes. Carefully, silently, he lifts his hands to both sides of it. If he only touched the mask, it'd be fine, right?

Slowly, he lifted it to see a human's face. Iwa looked completely normal, with a nose and mouth and eyes. Eyes that had pupils like a fox’s. Iwa woke up.

Tooru jumps back in surprise, letting the mask fall back on his face. “Sorry!” He scooches away just in case Iwa flung something at him.

But instead- Iwa-chan laughs and lifts up his mask again to look at Tooru with a grin. “You finally peeked?”

Tooru reddens at the smile but pouts in realization. “You wanted me to peek? For how long!”

Iwa snorts in response and completely takes off the plastic, setting it down on the grass before running his hands through his hair to spike it up. Before Tooru touches his face in awe, he asks, “Why are your eyes like that?”

Iwa stops spiking up his hair. “Like what?”

He bites his lip. “Like- a fox’s. Can you become a fox like Makki too?”

Iwa hums in thought. “Mm, I never tried. I don’t think I can anyway, I’m not like Makki.”

“Not like him? How?”

“Like- I wasn’t originally a spirit. I was human when I was a really small baby.”

Tooru smacks his hands to the grass and leans closer to him in interest. “Really? How’d you become a spirit? Did Makki turn you into one? Is that why I can’t touch you?” He scrunches his nose at the thought.

With an exasperated noise Iwa picks up the mask and puts it over Tooru’s face to quiet him. “Stop with all the questions! I don’t know much. Just that the spirits found me in the woods when I was a baby a few years ago and turned me into a spirit because no humans came back for me.”

Tooru gives Iwa a pointed look. “They turned you into one just like that? How?”

But the spirit shrugs and moves to take the mask, almost bumping hands together in the process, before putting it on again and laying down. “The mountain spirit. Let’s watch the sunset before you go home.”

The sudden change of topic silenced Tooru into thought, slowly laying down beside Iwa-chan and watched the sky burn out. He lets his mind wander for a minute, why didn't Iwa want to explain everything?

Eventually he let it slip, enjoying the moment while it lasted. They laid there and cloud watched until the sun was almost completely over the horizon and the clouds started to disperse.

“I have to go home tomorrow.” Tooru murmurs. Iwa goes motionless at his side.

“Yeah? You always go back to your Uncle’s house every day.” He says, voice giving away his doubt.

Tooru bites his bottom lip. “No I mean- go back to the city. My mom and I don’t actually live with my uncle.”

There’s a heavy pause. “You mean- you won’t be coming back tomorrow? When will you be back?”

“The middle of July next summer. Mom said she wants to start coming as soon as vacation starts.” He replies, sitting up and crossing his legs together. Iwa-chan sits up with him, mask covering his expression.

“That's three seasons, when the cicadas come out.” Iwa whispers.

“Mm.” He doesn’t really know what to say to that, does Iwa not have a calendar of any kind? Does he know many days, months, it will be until he comes back?

By now, the sun has said it’s goodbyes and the sky growing darker by the minute. Tooru stands to head back to the shrine, Iwa following suit. That’s how they walk back to the shrine entrance, Tooru leading for once and Iwa following.

Once over the bridge and the mossy stones come into view, he knows it’ll be a long year before he returns.

“I’ll come back Iwa-chan. I always will!” He puts on a smile to cheer him up.

He can’t tell Iwa’s reaction, the mask emotionless. “Mm. I haven’t seen you before this summer though.”

Tooru’s smile lessens. “I’ve never visited my uncle before now.”

“You won’t forget me then? You’ll remember to come back into the forest and see me?”

Tooru furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “Forget you? How could I forget Iwa-chan! You’re the best thing that’s happened to me all summer!” He couldn’t directly see how this affected the spirit, but the red blush on his ears gave it away.

“Whatever!” He huffs. “Just promise you'll come back?” Iwa-chan crosses his arms and Tooru grins.

“Promise.”

 

* * *

 

 

The bus arrived shortly after he sat down, taking him to the train station where he checks in his ID and buys a ticket. The train is apparently running late, an announcement echoing through the station. He decides, quickly, to send a text to his mother that he’ll be home late, but safely.

Once on the train ten minutes later and in a relatively comfortable seat, he takes a look out the window to see train picking up speed out of the station. His phone beeps from a text from his mother to keep track of his bag. He scowls at the memory of once almost leaving it on the train.

It was the second summer he returned to his uncle’s house beside the forest, wracked with worry that Iwa-chan had forgotten him after so long. He’d gotten a pretty intense lecture from his uncle and mother once they realized he didn’t have it with him and made him get back on the train to bring it back.

 

* * *

 

  
Tooru finally made it back to his uncle’s house that next July, the school year seemed to drag on so much longer than usual. He rushed his mother as much as he could, moving in his seat restlessly for the four hour wait on the train. Eventually, finally, they stopped at the final train station to greet his uncle at the station, get the lecture about almost forgetting his suitcase, and walking to his uncle’s house.

As soon as they get there he dumps all of his belongings into his room, hiding from his mother who will without a doubt scold him for not unpacking properly, and running to the path that’ll lead him to the old shrine.

It takes a while to find the shrine, the path that always brought him to it seemed to take longer to walk. But he eventually sees the large storm arch and growing moss.

A figure sits at the steps, arms crossed and looking to the ground. Tooru picks up his pace, grinning wide. “Iwa-chan!” He yells, finally making it to the steps.

Iwa looks up in surprise, standing up with a grin. “Tooru! You finally came back! I started to think you wouldn't since the summer's halfway over.”

Quickly climbing the steps, he resists the urge to reach out and hug the spirit. “Yet you still waited for me?” He asked teasingly.

Iwa-chan scowls briefly, reaching out to hold Tooru’s hand before stopping himself. He settles on his shirt, grabbing a fistful and dragging him through the cracked stone path that leads to the bridge Tooru remembers well.

As interesting as it is to be dragged by his shirt over a long distant, Tooru thinks holding onto Iwa’s shirt instead would be much more comfortable. “Wait Iwa- let me- yeah.” Iwa let go of his shirt at his name and Tooru quickly grabbed onto Iwa’s, nodding his head to continue.

Iwa-chan blinks at him before continuing on, saying he wanted to differ from their usual path to show Tooru something. Before he could ask what- or why- they take a right into denser trees and bushes. An acorn falls on Iwa’s head, making them both look up in surprise.

A boy, blonde with weird black strips, is half hidden in the tree. “Iwa why are you with the human again? He didn’t touch you yet did he? Humans are so stupid.”

Tooru squawks in protest, opening his mouth the insult him back, but Iwa beats him to it. “It’s okay Kyoutani, Tooru knows.”

The boy- Kyoutani- scowls fiercely. “Just because he knows doesn’t mean he won’t.” He climbs higher up into the tree, disappearing from sight. Iwa continues onward, Tooru’s hand clench in his shirt forcing him to continue on too.

“Who was that, Iwa-chan?” He asks after a moment, eye out for other spirits that may decide to come out.

“That was Kyoutani. He’s been a friend of mine for a while now.” He offers, not explaining as much as Tooru would have liked.

Before he could ask more, another spirit appeared beside them; this time recurring. He took form of a human, silver hair and a timid stance, multiple of him appearing behind bushes and trees. “Be careful, Iwa.” All of them say at different intervals, some louder than others.

Iwa just laughs and waves the spirit off, continuing on the path. Tooru gives the disappearing spirits a fleeting glance. “And who was that-?”

“Yahaba. He can makes clones of himself and blend in really well. He never makes that many in front of a human though; he must have been watching us.” Iwa explains.

Tooru hums in response. “Why haven't I met them last summer then? Is that why you took me a different way this time?” His hand is still loosely clutching onto Iwa’s shirt.

Iwa-chan nods. “Yeah. I didn't want them to freak out over you the first summer.” Tooru hums in thought again. “Wanna climb the oak tree?”

Tooru lights up, releasing his shirt and running ahead of the spirit. “I'll beat you there!”

  
Summers started to pass quickly, blurring together with bits and pieces sticking out from everything.

He asked Iwa again at some point why he couldn't touch him but spirits could, previously seeing Makki nudging Iwa’s hand before running off at the call of Yahaba. Important duties, or whatever Makki had said.

Iwa hesitated before vaguely answering that he’ll disappear for a few days to ‘heal’ or something. He mumbled it and distracted Tooru to play in the river.

Tooru let it slide, knowing he could ask ask again at any other time.

It wasn't until his third year in middle school, he's fourteen by now, that he realizes Iwa-chan ages at the same pace as him. Iwa’s arms started to get less scrawny, his facial features becoming sharper. Tooru was growing taller than him though, he noted smugly.

They sat on the bridge when he asked of Iwa-chan’s birthday. Even though he's a spirit, he's bound to have one because he ages the same as a human, right?

“What's a birthday?” Is Iwa’s response. Tooru gasps as if it personally offended him. He swung his legs over the ledge to let them hang.

“The day you were born, Iwa-chan! You can’t tell me you don't know when you were born?” He tilts his head and sees Iwa blush in embarrassment. He set his mask aside for the day, resting on the bridge’s wooden panels beside him.

“Not really?” He fiddles with his fingers. “All I know is that I was found on June 10th, one of the spirits found a calendar for me.”

Tooru blinks in surprise. “Awe, that's before my summer vacation! We can't celebrate your birthday on the same day now!” Iwa narrows his fox-like eyes at him.

“We’re making it my birthday now? I don’t need to celebrate it, Tooru. I don't even know how.” Iwa scowls at Tooru’s mischievous smile, letting the topic drop for now.

After Tooru leaves later in that day, however, Iwa finds a blue bundle of small flowers resting inside his mask he left on the bridge.

It's at the end of the same summer that Tooru thinks about Iwa living in the forest while it snows. It's brought up when his uncle suggests eating some watermelon he cut, commenting that the hotter it is during the summer then the colder it would be in winter.

When he asked why, he got some weird answer about being between the sea and the mountains that screws up the weather, but that was when he started to space out.

How would Iwa-chan stay warm during the winter? As a spirit, was it possible? Did he have warm clothes? He quickly got up and ran into the house, saying a vague excuse to his surprised uncle.

He makes his way to his mother’s room and finds the scarf she accidentally packed in the back of the closet, smiling smugly that Iwa was going a mom scarf. Probably.

He didn’t plan to come to the forest that day, leaving to the train station in a couple hours and already saying his goodbyes the day before. To his surprise, Iwa was standing at the steps anyway.

“Iwa!” He greets with a beaming smile, the spirit snorting in response.

“Why'd you come back? Yahaba told me he saw you come in for some reason.” Iwa turns his attention the the blue scarf in hand.

Tooru offers it to him. “For this! It's for when you got me safely out of here the first time.”

Iwa-chan hesitantly takes the scarf, mask hiding his expression well. That's okay though, over the years Tooru had gotten used to reading Iwa’s expression through his voice rather than facial expressions.

“Thanks, i'll wear it this winter then.” He could hear the embarrassment in his voice. Smiling proudly, Tooru stepped a few paces back.

“I have to go and pack now, but i'll see you next summer for real now! Bye Iwa-chan!” Tooru grinned at him, genuine and wide, before he ran down the path to his uncle’s house.

  
It’s the first snow of the year, just after school ends, is what catches Oikawa’s attention instead of packing up for the day. The few snow flakes falling from the cloudy sky a warning for more to come.

The sudden sound of the classroom door opening pushes him out of his thoughts, turning around to see Matsukawa at the door. “Oikawa?”

Oikawa suddenly realizes that the first year classroom is empty; he spaced out for too long. “Oops! Sorry Mattsun! I’ll be ready in a minute.”

It doesn't take long for him to put everything into his bag, walking with Matsukawa to the school gate and on their way home. He’s unusually silent, Matsukawa notes, but Oikawa doesn't really know how to explain.

He's also silent during dinner with his mom. She asks him if anything's wrong, or if he was feeling sick because of the weather. He genuinely smiles to stop her worries, saying he's tired for the day.

He lays in bed wide awake that night, his thoughts and questions too loud to be silenced.

Matsukawa rings the doorbell that morning to walk to school together, probably to make sure Oikawa doesn't do something stupid while he spaces out.

And he almost did, barely stepping away from the ice on the road by the tug of Mattsun’s gloved hand in his. He barely notices Matsukawa commenting, “I haven't seen you this spaced out since the beginning of summer last year. Why is it opposite now?” He laughs, but Oikawa is thinking of the forest rather than here.

Did Iwa keep the scarf? Did he actually need it, or does he not get cold? Would Oikawa be able to feel how cold his skin was? Or the lack of cold despite the winter?

Oikawa, for the rest of winter and throughout spring, had the large and starved urge to touch Iwa-chan. Anywhere, just once.

 

* * *

 

 

After four hours on the train, he had to switch to two others to finally make it to his destination. The last train was small and rusty, only one other person traveling with him- the train conductor.

Stepping into the small station, remembering his suitcase and sunhat just fine thank you, he makes his way down the path to the old house that he practically grew up in. While he walked, it looked like the flowers swayed in greeting.

He remembers his third year high school visit here, his mother had stopped coming with him by his first year. That was the most informational summer he had.

 

* * *

 

 

“Yo, Oikawa.” Iwa-chan waves at mossy shrine steps as soon as he's within hearing range. Oikawa smiled brightly at him, picking up the pace.

“Iwa-chan!” He greets, running up the steps and immediately comforted by the familiar sound of static noise of the forest; leaves, animals and the river ahead.

They wordlessly walk to the bridge side by side, a routine they created after the years. Iwa takes a seat first, swinging his legs over the edge so they’re barely inches above the water. Oikawa follows suit, feet closer to the water than Iwa’s. He gets smug at that.

“You don’t ask that many questions lately.” Iwa says taking off his mask and setting it to the side like years ago.

Iwa looks up from the river, fish unusually calm. “Wha?”

He snorts. “Like- you don’t ask about the touching thing. Or try to touch me anymore, either.”

Oikawa cringes at the thought of him as a child, brash and doing whatever he wanted. “Yeah,” He laughs. “I was weirdly curious about a lot of stuff back then.”

The silence after that wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable either. Tiny fish gather in interest at his feet. “You know- after I graduate high school and move out, I could come whenever I wanted. In autumn, winter, spring; I could see all sides of you.”

Iwa doesn’t reply for a minute, the small swing of his legs making the fish flee. He seems discouraged, frowning like he doesn't want to say something.

“I turn human when you touch me- it happened before. I changed back because of Makki’s father, but too many changes and my body can’t handle it.”

Oikawa blinks in surprise at the sudden information. “Makki’s father is the mountain god, right? Who turned you human before? And why can’t your body handle it anymore?”

Iwa quickly covers his face with the fox mask to quiet him, laughing lightly. “I knew you would get like this.” Oikawa lifts the mask to the top of his head and pouts. “It’s because I changed between both spirit and human too many times that one more transition from human to spirit would kill me. That’s why you couldn’t- can’t- touch me.”

He frowns. “That’s it? You could’ve told me that and I wouldn’t have been a little shit and tried to touch you anyway.”

Iwa looks away sheepishly. “Yeah… I know that now, but I used to think it would only make you wanna touch my skin more so you could take me to your house or whatever. But then I realized you wouldn’t do that but I never really- found the right moment to tell you.”

Oikawa scoffs but drops the topic for now, asking something more pressing to him. “How did you let someone touch you so many times already? Didn’t we meet at, like, seven?”

“Probably,” Iwa shrugs. “And we host festivals every summer that I used to go to ever since I can remember, and all the humans that got mixed in bumped into me or something. So I stopped going before it was too late.”

“Wh-What!” Oikawa leans forward in surprise. “You hold festivals? Why didn’t you tell me about that either!

Iwa ruffles his hair in frustration. “Because! At first I didn’t want to overwhelm you with so many things at once and then Makki brought up that I always turned human at the festival so I stopped going altogether.”

Oikawa pouts, but doesn’t make any further fuss at Iwa-chan’s obvious frustration over the topic. “Well whatever, you have to take me to one of them one day as payment. Why don’t we say hi to Makki before he knows I’ve been here and haven't said anything to him yet.”

He stands up, brushing off the non-existent dust from his pants, and takes the mask at the top of his head with him into the forest. Iwa snorts behind him, following without complaint.

  
Oikawa eventually forgets about festivals all together, and the summer passes by too fast in his opinion. He says his goodbyes in a hurry, almost late for the train, and just like that his childhood had ended.

He moved on to a local university after high school, wanted to start a more stable career before volleyball. He never wanted to admit it, but his knee was getting shittier every year by how he exerts it too much.

He finally found the time to visit his uncle, who was moving out that summer, and helped him pack. It took most of his summer break, making him anxious that he wouldn't be able to visit Iwa-chan that summer.

But three days before he had to leave, the house had been packed and his uncle content. They sat at the porch, his uncle reminiscing. “You remember the first time you came to visit? It took you forever to get a liking to me.”

Oikawa laughs and fiddled with a loose string in his shirt. “I remember that summer well, probably my favorite out of all of them.”

“All of them? Well you have a lot more to come. Don't act so old and make me jealous.” He laughs again and heaved a heavy sigh. “Oikawa, how do you feel about this house?”

He looks up at the sudden question. “Hm? I love it here! It holds a lot of memories, why do you ask?”

His uncle seems to have a troubled look, his greying mustache ruffling. “You're in university now and plan to move out soon, yeah?” He doesn't give Oikawa enough time to even nod. “And this place holds a lot of memories for me too. How do you feel about living here for me instead? I know it's farther from your university, but-”

Oikawa cuts him off in his excitement. “Are you serious? Are you sure I can live here? Oh but- I can't pay the rent here with my job-”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I'll cover everything for you; I don't want to see another family take it over just yet.” He laughs again. “What good timing.”

Oikawa can't keep the smile off his face, silently agreeing. If he didn't know his uncle was such a genuine guy and had an abundance of money because his late wife, he probably would have rejected the offer within seconds. It seemed too good to be true.

  
He meets up with Iwa-chan the next evening, apologizing for not visiting him sooner. Iwa brushed it off, saying his uncle was more important.

They met up with Hanamaki at the river, a fox wading in the water with his twin tails high in the air. He claims they're going fishing, an old bamboo rod for Oikawa to use while Iwa wades in the water with him.

Sitting on a nearby rock, he reels the line into the water and watch the two spirits flail at the fish, one being more effective than the other. Compared to Makki’s sharp teeth and fox reflexes, Iwa’s soft hands and slow movements pale in comparison.

Oikawa has a fun time pointing this out to them as the hours go by.

By the time it starts to get cold and the sun threatening to burn the sky orange, Makki asks, “Iwa, are you gonna finally come to the festival tonight? I heard Watari was finally gonna do the costume dance he said he’d do ages ago.”

Iwa lifts his head from the grass, resting after chasing fish for so long. “Uh, I don't think-”

Oikawa excitedly cuts in before he could protest, jumping off the rock. “Of course he is! And he's taking me with him!”

Makki, as much as a fox can, leers at Iwa-chan with his teeth. “That so?”

Iwa sits up with a red face but stops when he sees Oikawa's pouting. With a scowl, he admits defeat. “Yeah, I guess I'm bringing him with me.”

Oikawa jumps in excitement, cheering along with Hanamaki that he finally gets to see the festival. A call from Yahaba telling him that Makki’s father wants to see him abruptly stops his celebration.

Makki dramatically sighs and tells them they'll see him at the festival, for right now he has ‘other shit to attend to.’ Oikawa mockingly waves him goodbye as Iwa wishes him luck, silence falling between the two.

“You're able to sneak out tonight, right?” He asks after a moment, staring at the pile of fish they gathered. Oikawa had no idea what he was going to do with all of them. Were they even the edible kind?

He snorts. “Iwa-chan i'm, like, 20. I can go anywhere I want without being asked; but yeah I can sneak out.”

Iwa-chan rolls his eyes and lets him get away with his sass with a crooked smile.

  
That night, after dressing up in a yukata and doing his hair, he finds his uncle sleeping soundly on the porch. He must have been remembering older times with his wife, his routine never stopping until the end. Oikawa lays a blanket on him before he heads out.

In a blur they meet up with spirits disguised as humans crossing a large red bridge deeper into the forest, following the crowd into the marketplace that's filled with loud music and excited kids. Almost everyone is wearing a mask of some kind, some people have tails or ears in the open, some people smile a little too wide to be human.

As they walk down the main road, Oikawa asks, “So human actually come here? And they don’t notice the tails and everything?”

“Yeah, they all think it's a show or extra props so we don’t bother that much.” Iwa smiles warmly as a kid with a large bushy tail bumps into him, apologizes, and runs off again.

Iwa moves his hand to show a relatively long cloth in hand, gesturing to hold his hand out. Oikawa complies hesitantly. “What’s this for?” He asks after Iwa’s done tying the cloth to both their wrists, about two feet in length.

“So we don’t lose each other; I obviously can’t hold your hand so this is the next best thing.” He looks away, the tips of his ears that aren’t covered by the mask a burning red.

Oikawa smiles smugly as Iwa walks forward. “It’s like a date,” He sings playfully, stopping when Iwa-chan turns around.

“This is a date.” He retorts, his voice playful like Oikawa’s, turning back around and leading him through the crowd. He’s shocked into silence, his face warm as he let’s Iwa lead.

They go and see the fireworks after that, near the middle of a large crowd clapping and cheering for more. The sky lights up with reds, blues and whites, different combinations and patterns appearing and reappearing until it’s over.

They walk past a giant wall of pinwheels, blowing them to spin. A cotton candy machine sits in a stall with a man smiling warmly at them. He hands one to Iwa, who's about to take a bite out of it while lifting his mask from his mouth, before it pops off the stick and floats to the sky. Oikawa laughs at his surprise.

They stumble upon a large two-tailed dragon dance, the crowd clapping in a repetitive tune as the dragon, obviously a spirit to anyone that knows they exist, dances to the beat. The dance abruptly stops when a group of young kids decide it's okay to join in, laughing and yelling to the music. Iwa smiles warmly again, so Oikawa guesses it’s alright.

There's a giant bonfire that they light on fire when everyone starts to close down the stalls, the embers flying to the sky and making everything warm and bright. After watching it crackle and to life for a while, Iwa leads the two of them away from the crowd beside a lake that the river filters into.

They walk along the path lined with lily pads, fireflies lighting up and burning out a few paces ahead. Oikawa smiles fondly. “That was fun! It was just like a human festival, wasn’t it? Is it like that every year?”

Iwa shrugs, lifting his mask to rest that the top of his head. “Yeah, from what Makki says.”

Oikawa perks up at his name. “Have you seen Makki at all tonight?” Iwa snorts.

“Yeah he was the dancing dragon, you didn’t know? He can change into this giant fox and he entertains everyone. He’s probably human right now and dancing on a stage-” Oikawa cuts him off abruptly.

“Human? Makki can turn human?” He stops walking to look at Iwa, who in return looks confused.

“He never told you? He doesn’t like the feel of being like a human so it’s only during festivals he changes.” Iwa-chan explained, speaking softly.

Oikawa noticed the sudden atmosphere change, looking at him closely. They’re inches, a lot closer than he realized, the cloth connecting their wrists drooping low to the ground. With the light from the tall bonfire he can see Iwa-chan's eyes are green, often mistaken for grey.

Before he could do anything- would he have done anything?- a pair of kids run down the path they walked down, bumping into Oikawa and almost falling. Iwai catches the kids arm, yelling a rough, “Careful!”

The kid says they’re apologies, their friend hurrying them to get back to their parents. Oikawa watches them run to the marketplace for a moment before noticing a soft green light coming from Iwa’s hand- the one he’d caught the kid from falling with.

“Wh-” He instantly makes the connection, Iwa staring at his hand without emotion. He looks to the kids who've disappeared into the crowd. “Was that kid human? Iwa-”

When he looks back at Iwa-chan, his expression is so many emotions at once: fear, surprise, desperation. But quickly, before Oikawa can react or he completely disappear, he moves forward and puts a both his hands on Oikawa's face. It's rough and chaste, and it's not a perfect kiss, but it's completely Iwa that makes Oikawa melt into him.

Oikawa fleetingly reaches to his shoulders, his face or hair- anything, but he falls into nothing and catches himself from falling. The fox mask clatters to the ground in the sudden silence.

Immediately, he bends down to pick up the mask and run straight to Hanamaki. He’ll know what to do, right? It's a hard task to run in a yukata and sandals, dodging the dense crowds and skirting the area to try to find the dancing figure.

It's especially hard when he has no idea what Hanamaki looks like as a human, but he doesn't have to worry about that when he hears cheers from a crowd suspiciously calling the fox spirits name.

Making his way over and mumbling excuses to get by people, he sees Makki dancing along with a few others, twirling strings and fabrics to the rhythm of the music.

He looked beautiful while dancing, and in any other situation Oikawa would be jealous, but now wasn't the time. The only way he can tell it’s Makki is because of the two light pink tails fluffed out of his outfit.

Oikawa luckily doesn't have to call him down, Makki spotting him after a few twirls or whatever he's doing to make the crowd cheer. He probably saw the distressed look on his face too, for he come over with minimal movements and eventually stops dancing.

“Oikawa? What's wrong? Where's Iwa?” He asks once he's in hearing range, frown set on his lips. Oikawa nervously runs his hand through his hair.

“I- I don't know? He just disappeared when he touched some kid and- I know he said he’d disappear but oh my god he literally did.” He rants to Hanamaki in a hurry, thumbing nervously with the mask in hand.

“Did- was the kid he touched human? Why'd he touch him?” Makki leads them both to quieter part of the street next to the large pinwheel wall he'd seen earlier.

“Because the kid was gonna trip. It was like an automatic reaction.” Oikawa explains, hoping Makki will know what to do.

Hanamaki takes a deep breath to calm himself. “Okay- Okay. Well I mean, he’s gonna come back; his body needs to heal itself at the sudden change so my dad was probably the one to take him away. “

Oikawa frowns. “Your dad, the mountain god himself, just up and decided that he take Iwa-chan in the middle of a festival when humans could see?”

Makki shrugs. “Dude, I dunno know how he thinks, it's like black and white sometimes and completely grey other times.” He runs a hand through his short, light pink hair. “Oikawa, how about you just go home and sleep for the night, okay? Iwa will come back by the morning.”

Oikawa takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay. Okay- will you meet me at the steps after it rises?”

He shrugs with a smile. “If Iwa doesn't beat me to it.”

Oikawa lights up at the suggestion and leaves Hanamaki shortly after, putting in the fox mask as he walks back to his uncle's- soon to be his- house. The moon is cast low by now, clouds dotting the sky in lighter patches.

He pleasantly doesn't find his uncle sleeping on the porch anymore, probably woke up to his own snoring. After taking off the yukata and sandals that started to hurt his feet, he falls onto his bed with his thoughts to keep him company.

  
He wakes up with a start, his alarm blaring loudly at him to turn it off. He hurriedly changes and tells his uncle who's half awake that he has to do something, he'll be back as soon as he can. He gets a grumble of a response which he assumes is affirmation.

He, thankfully, chose sweatpants to jog over to the shrine, remembering to bring Iwa’s mask. To his surprise, no fox or human shaped Makki waits for him, instead a familiar spirit he's fondly grown attached to.

He slows down when he reaches the steps where Iwa sits, looking at him with tired eyes. Oikawa hands over the mask with a small smile, “Present for you.”

Iwa raises an eyebrows and cautiously takes it. “Isn't this originally mine to begin with?” He scooches over for Oikawa to sit down next to him despite his gruff voice.

This time, Oikawa doesn't let the silence envelope them. “So, you're officially a human now?” The bluntness of the question earns him a glare.

“Yeah. I dunno what I'm gonna do now though; I can't live here because I can't adapt like a spirit anymore, and I don't have human education to get a job or whatever the fuck you explained.” He grumbles, resting his chin on his hand that's supported by his knee. “And everyone's gonna think I'm weird for not knowing normal shit like- what the fuck is a rice cooker? Or a kotatsu? Or-”

Oikawa finally cuts him off with his rant. “You could always live with me, you know.” That shuts Iwa’s mouth instantly.

Iwa-chan looks at him with a glare. “Yeah right, dumbass. As if your mom would allow some stranger into the house-”

“No, I mean-” He forgot that he never told Iwa about his uncle's offer yet. “My uncle wants me to move into his house because he doesn't want some other family taking it over yet.”

Iwa-chan furrows his eyebrows. Cutely, Oikawa may add. “For free? And there's no catch? He'll let me into his house?”

“It'll be my house soon, not his.” He rolls his eyes. “And just until you know the basics to the modern world, y’know?”

Iwa nods hesitantly, thinking it over. “Are you sure? I mean- it's your childhood house.”

Oikawa beams at him. “It's my summer childhood house, it's not my autumn, winter or spring house. I want to spend those with you. I want to see all of you, remember?”

Iwa-chan snorts but replied, “I remember. I'll move in then- you'll see all of me and i'll see all of you.”

“Promise?” Oikawa smiles smugly.

“Promise.” Iwa-chan rolls his eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

He opens the door, yelling, “Iwa-chan! I'm home early!” He rests his suitcase to the side, taking off his sun hat and kicking off his shoes. After a moment, when he's starting to think Iwa fell asleep, there's soft thumping going down the stairs and a spiky bead head to greet him.

“Hey. I got your text earlier, what did your university email you?” He asks, scratching his shoulder and tugging at the suitcase closer to the stairs, sun hat settles at the end of the banister.

“They added an extra exam because apparently they didn’t think it was enough for us.” He sticks his tongue out at the thought, helping Iwa bring the heavy thing upstairs.

Once they made it into his room, dumping all of his stuff in the bed to put away later, he plops onto the floor with an exhausted sigh. Iwa-chan laughs, joining him.

“Long day?” He asks conversationally, twining their hands together in the carpet.

Tooru smiles and gives his hand a squeeze. “I guess. The train being late sorta fucked up the two other trains I had to go on. Also my phone almost died! You know how bored I would have been if it did?”

Iwa hums for him to continue, rubbing circles into Tooru’s hand with his thumb. “Oh yeah, and there was this older woman who kept glaring at me, but I couldn't figure out why! You think I stole her seat or something?”

Another hum. “Maybe. Or you managed to murder her only other family member.”

Tooru fails to bite back a smile. “Maybe.” He appeased, the glow-in-the-dark stars he stuck onto the ceiling years ago fading by the day.

“The flowers looked nice when I walked by, like they were happy to see me.” Tooru laughs at the thought, but Iwa-chan stays surprisingly silent. “Uh- were they? Are they spirits, Iwa-chan?”

“What? Of course not, no spirit I've seen can turn into plant.” Iwa scoffs. “Sorry, I was thinking about how you could actually see the spirits without the festival.”

“Without the festival? Should I not have been able to see you?”

“Technically, no. Not unless the mountain god allows it- but I couldn't imagine why he'd let someone like you of all people to see the spirits”

Tooru gasps in mock offense, barely containing the grin threatening to spill onto his lips. “Is that why you and Makki said I smelled super weird that one summer?”

“What? We did?”

“You old man! You don't even remember that?”

“Tooru, I'm barely a month older than you.”

“You're still older! Old man!” He sticks his tongue out, sitting up and staring down at the ex-spirit. His eyes were still that very green color he'd seen by the bonfire light.

Iwa-chan rolled his eyes, sitting up with him and resting their foreheads together. “Well you love this old man then.”

Tooru pouts- that was unfair. He couldn’t lie to him when he got sentimental like this. Sometimes, if Iwa had a fox tail like Hanamaki, Tooru would think it would be swishing side to side in contentment.

“Yeah, I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> some things:  
> \- kyoutani's scene was originally going to be mattsun's, but then i was like NAH and then bam. kyoutani it was  
> \- i always imagined them sitting or being at the bridge at intervals in theyre lives, like in pictures [first its the first time they cross and iwa stopping to say iwachan is a weird nickname, then its oikawa holding onto iwas shirt, then talking about birthdays on the bridge when oikawas a 1st year highschooler, then finally in third year ;p]  
> \- 'suit' is mentioned 9 times in this fic, fun fact  
> \- makki and mattsun meet a couple years later, when iwa and oikawa move out of the old house for oikawa to go to a pro vb school instead of a basic one. iwa and oiks wanted to go back to go to the festival for old times sake and mattsun was still a friend of oiks so why not invite him? and wow bam matsuhana w a prince!makki kinda vibe since he's the son of the mountain god and everything  
> \- alternate title: ""[you consume me] all to an ember"" but that sounded too emo to me rip
> 
> yell at me about this on my [ [tumblr,](http://iwaizumi-hajiime.tumblr.com) ] i beg u, i love validation


End file.
